San Luis: Nissan qualifying report

SATURDAY IN SAN LUIS
At nine o'clock this morning the GT1 cars headed out onto the Potrero de
Los Funes circuit for free practice, giving the majority of the GT1
drivers their first ever opportunity to drive their race cars on this
track. The ...

SATURDAY IN SAN LUIS

At nine o'clock this morning the GT1 cars headed out onto the Potrero de
Los Funes circuit for free practice, giving the majority of the GT1
drivers their first ever opportunity to drive their race cars on this
track. The circuit received a unanimous thumbs up from all the drivers,
with Michael Krumm describing it as, "the most exciting and fun circuit
I have ever driven on." Warren Hughes agreed and added, "it definitely
has the wow factor but it is just waiting to bite you," in reference to
the concrete walls that line the 6.27km track. Described as "a place for
the brave and the accurate" the San Luis track is going to provide many
thrills and spills over the next 24 hours.

After days of clear skies and hot sunshine the weather turned after free
practice with monsoon rain and hailstones delaying the start of
pre-qualifying. Any rubber that had been laid down on the track in free
practice was washed away and all of the dust and sand was washed back on.

The weather cleared in time for qualifying and it was the No.23 Sumo
Power car of Peter Dumbreck and Michael Krumm that came out as top Nissan
GT-R, taking eighth place on the grid for the first of tomorrow's two
races. They will actually start the race tomorrow from seventh place due
to a grid penalty being given to another competitor. Sumo team-mates
Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes had a tough afternoon, not making
the cut in the first qualifying session and having to settle for 18th
place. The Swiss Racing Team Nissan GT-Rs will line up just behind them
in 20th and 21st places respectively.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day in San Luis. The Qualifying race will
begin at 0915hrs (1315hrs CET) and then the final Championship race of
the 2010 season will get underway at 1500hrs (1900hrs CET).

WHAT THE DRIVERS SAY...

PETER DUMBRECK
"We were happy to make it into Q3; both Michael and I found good speed
in the car today. I was unlucky to hot traffic on my qualifying run.
Ironically it was the guy who went on to take pole who spun in front of
me and blocked the track on my first lap. I had given him plenty of space
but you can't account for spins like that. My tyres peaked on lap one so
that was that and I took eighth."

JAMIE CAMPBELL-WALTER
"We had a bit of a gear selection problem and the car was also skittery
under braking and that was enough to keep us out of Q2. You need
confidence under braking here because otherwise going into the corners is
just a little bit too exciting. We've now got one hell of a race on our
hands tomorrow from the back."

SEIJI ARA
"I tried to push hard today but I think the tyre pressures were too low.
I kept going though so I could learn the track. My driving got better
through the session but I just didn't have enough grip so it was hard to
have the confidence to attack."

KARL WENDLINGER
"It is hard to know where you are when you lose the pre-qualifying
session, as we did today due to the rain. The car felt okay to me. I did
a 17.8 and was in 10th place in Q1 but the mistake was to come in and
change tyres. This meant I only had enough time left for one flying lap
and that wasn't enough. We will have to be careful tomorrow as going
offline will not be good here. We will be strong on the straights
though."